Vocals/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby A man and a woman dressed in Viking clothes are singing on stage. Moby is in the audience, watching them through opera glasses. Tim is sitting next to him. The woman finishes her song, the audience applauds, and roses are thrown onto the stage. Later, Moby and Tim are home. TIM: Wow, that opera tonight was pretty sweet… even though I couldn't understand most of it. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah, that lady sure had a set of lungs! T''im reads from a typed letter.'' TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, How do singers hit all those notes? From, Pedro. TIM: Well Pedro, pretty much everyone who can speak can also sing. Singing is just making sounds of different pitches with your mouth open. An image shows a girl singing with her wide open mouth. Musical notes appear above her and her voice is heard. TIM: With your mouth closed it's called humming. An image shows a girl with her mouth closed humming as musical notes appear above her. Her voice is heard humming. TIM: Anyway, most professional vocalists require years of training to be able to sing the way they do. The opera singers are shown again. TIM: When you sing, you're manipulating your vocal system. That includes your lungs for air; your diaphragm, which is a muscle that controls the flow of air in and out of your lungs; and your vocal chords, a set of membranes that surrounds your air tube, or larynx. It also includes your mouth—your teeth, tongue, and lips. A diagram shows a person’s lungs, diaphragm, vocal chords, larynx, mouth, teeth, tongue, and lips. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, when you sing, you can make all kinds of sound with your voice. It depends on how you manipulate the shape of your vocal chords and control your breath. There are several different voice types, or registers, that you can sing in. The most common is the chest voice. That's the voice you use for regular, everyday talking. An image shows a man and a woman talking. TIM: When using your chest voice, you can feel vibrations along your lower neck and sternum. Most pop singers use their chest voices to belt out catchy tunes. An image shows a pop star. TIM: And when you sing, your lips provide a rich, full sound. And it's not so difficult to sing really loud when you use your chest voice. An animation shows Tim singing as he takes a shower. TIM: Professionals, like those opera singers though, use only lower pitches to sing. An image shows the two opera singers. TIM: To hit those higher notes, they have to add in their head voice. An animation shows the woman singing high notes. TIM: There are registers above that, too. Some men can sing in the falsetto range, which is way higher than their regular voices! An animation shows the man singing notes higher than his normal range. TIM: Some women can sing in a crazy-high register too—so high that the notes sound like whistles or shrieks! An animation shows the woman singing very high notes that cause a vase to break. MOBY: Beep! TIM: Yeah, it's impressive. Uh, not everyone can do that. But there's other neat stuff you can do with your voice, once you know how. An image shows the two opera singers again with the broken vase between them. TIM: When a singer’s voice sounds… kinda wavy, that's called vibrato. An animation shows a male figure with sound waves coming from his mouth. TIM: The natural vibration of the vocal cords makes the voice almost pulsate. An animation shows an opera singer wearing horns and waving a pointed pole. The animation changes into a pop star singing. TIM: What they're actually doing is quickly making their voices alternate between two slightly different pitches. The animation of the male figure with sound waves coming from his mouth is shown again. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Right, we’ve mostly been talking about classical western styles of singing. There are lots of other kinds! Scat singing is a form of vocal improvisation. An image shows a man singing. SINGER: Scoobity wop de-bop de-bop. TIM: And you've--you've probably heard of yodeling. An animation shows a shepherd on a mountain. He is heard yodeling. MOBY: Beep! Moby plays a yodeling sound. His lights turn yellow. Tim laughs. TIM: Nice try. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, I can sing too, but I'm not really good. Maybe you should join a chorus or something. An image shows four people in a chorus holding music scores. MOBY: Beep? TIM: 'Well, sure. Lots of people, and...I guess robots, are in a chorus or choir, where they get together and sing in a big group. Most choruses split their members up into voice parts, based on their natural voice range. From lowest to highest the four most common voice parts are bass, tenor, alto, and soprano. ''An animation shows the same chorus. Four of the chorus members take turns singing, illustrating their specific voices: bass, tenor, alto and soprano. '''MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, sometimes there are instruments playing along but other times choruses, or choirs, are a cappella. That means just voices, no instruments. Moby smiles. A clock indicates a change in time. The scene switches to a chorus line of robots. Moby is with them. They all beep in different electronic voices. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Arts & Music Transcripts